I would love to say defence, but most of the time it's HITTING the ball.
Phoneix this past year (60 Major) we made only 5 outs the entire game (6 innings) and lost.
Making 2 outs in the first inning before scoring 5 runs, scoring 5 runs the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th with out making an out. Then scoring 3 the last inning before making the third out and lose 28 to 29. They had a 9 run top of last inning so I know we got them out more than 5 times.
But I agree defence in very important and most games don't play out like our game out West.
BTW it was played under the lights and you could not see the ball at all. I think it was Desert West Complex.

terrymac is 100% correct, I know many of the Major Plus players and I am sure 99% will never look down on the lower lever players. While I am only a lower Major player myself I can understand why they want to play at the highest lever they can. These "old guy" still have great ability and want to use it at their fullest potental.
I underestand that the 5/7 run inning rules suck, they even suck for all division. But limited runs and limited HR must really be a drag for the top softball players in the senior groups.
If we complain that we are not getting the same deal, then we must work hard as they do so we can play M+ softball.
I don't see any problem with anyone playing within their selves, being 60 and playing Major I am thrilled to still be playing at this level. The M+ players, I am sure work a lot harder at the game than I do.
They never have acted like they are Gods and us lower divisions are any less. They have gifts I wish I could have at this age.
I am sure if you ask anyone of them for help (as I have) they would go out of their way to help making your divisions better or you a better player. CST 08 there were several M+ players out on the 4 fields over 10 hours each day just helping other players with their swings, timing etc.
I sure some started at the lower lever and just worked harder to play better ball.
We all are equal men playing the game we all love, we need to keep working together and make our own divisions better. After all softball is TEAMWORK.
OK I am done, off to Sebring to play softball. Have a great week all.
CPope

Dave
Great tournament, excellant umps.
I purchased to tournament shirts and left them in the bag in the parking lot. No problem, totally my fault.
Is there a place where I can buy another? link or e-mail address? Thanks

In my previous post I failed to mention that the 60 Major division was won by Human Kinetics. I get to typing and forget about somethings. Things that I would like to forget about was how bad I played. Thanks to great team mates that carried me thru the tournament.

Human Kinetics got real lucky playing Joseph Chevrolet from Ohio. Joseph Chevrolet has a great team, speed, base hitting, some power and great defence. They took us to the "if" game after beating us in the first game. They scored every inning of both games except the last inning of the "if" game. Thankfully we had a 3 run lead in the bottom of the 7th, they started with a base hit, 2 line drive outs, that could been hits and a fly ball. Yes we were lucky to win.
Human Kinetica played hard and even tho we didn't hit well all weekend we stayed in the game, great team mates.
Joseph Chevrolet, you have a excellant team with great sportmanship. I know at least 2 of there players didn't make an out against us all weekend.
Sometimes it's hard to have only one winner. See you again this year. Great job.
Congrats to all the TOC winners.

Bruce, you have always told me to swing at the FRIST strike, 1st pitch or 5th pitch.
1: wind, don't know, the wind make a good pitcher worth his salt.
2: Platooning, please, NO NO
3: Runs for/against, sounds fairer to me
4: Rings, like the next guy it's great to win a ring, I have won rings with 23 teams in our bracket, 2 teams in our bracket and one while only playing 1 game because of being hurt. All the rings look the same but only one feels like I really won something.
5: HR rules, limits are OK, but anything over the limit should be singles. That would take away some of the head hunting of the pitcher.
6: Night Games; I usually don't have a problem with a good lighted field but last year at Phoenix was a night game from HELL, both teams had a big problem, we were lucky nobody get hurt. Our pitcher had one go by his head and never saw it. The only person that saw it was our catcher.
Bruce, Audie, See you in a few weeks.

Hotcorner, I stand corrected, not ALL umpires are in it for the money. But when I see an ump:
Walking off the field when he was told he was to get less games to ump that day then he was suppose to get, saying "I don't really care"
Not trying to speed the game up. saying "It's only 60 minute time limit and I am out of here."
Making bad calls and tell the team that ask for an appeal. "Tough, play or walk off the feild"
After making a very bad call and a player tell his team to hush up, The ump will make it up later. he says "I don't make up calls, I just get even"
And worse of all, this happen to ME. Being on deck batter the hitter hit a ball down the IB line that looked like it hit the bag to me, ump calls foul (this was after what I though 2 or 3 bads calls he made already) I said, not yelled "comeon ump, get one right" He looked over and ask who said that, I told him "I did, that was the 4th bad call in 3 innings", said, not yelled. He tossed me, came over to the on deck circle, got in my face and told me, "your a piece of shit, why don't you take a swing at me, no balls?"
Granted I am 60, almost 6 foot and 195 and this guy was about 70, 5'5" and 160, I just laughed walked to the dugout, packed my bags and have never been back.
PLaying for over 45 years, that made the third time I was tossed. I play the game for the fun of it and I, being corrected feel sure that there are some umps that still ump because they love the game and the people that play it. I also ump a local 55 league and donate my 14.00 a game back to their assoistation, gets me invited to their Christmas party. :)
And like most on this board have played it for a long time and back than you had 1 assoistation, 2 divisions (competive & rec) and everything was open, tournaments were less than $200.00 and you had to win a local league, district tournament tournament and State tournament to get invited to any type Nationals, you earned it, It wasn't just pay the money and show up for a National or World..
I know times change, but we have to many tournaments and not enough teams at them. One of my teams have won the SPA Winter Nationals 2 years in a row, we play the same 4 teams except one that we play ech month in the Florida Half Century tournaments. Teams don't have the buget they use to get and travel is tough. Just have fun.
Sorry I rabbled on, I just want to play ball, I don't have to many years left in this tired old body. Everybody have a great 2008 season, umps and players.

Great, Run as fast as you can in and out to the field, no pitcher or infeild warm up, lets get the game over as quick as possible. Thats great for the TD and UMPS.
Where are we going? I agree on husle and have the DR ready to go before hand, I find my self walkingh on and off the feild. That alone will save more time than anything.
A ss making the play in the bottom of the 7th inning and not having thrown a ball for over 1 hour might not make the same play as he would if he has at least 1 warm up ball per inning. It could cost a team the game, maybe even a rotator cuff or at least a sore arm.
In our younger days we never had a problem husling in and out, at leat 3 to 4 ball for the pitcher and 1 or 2 for trhe infeild and still finished a full seven innings.
IMHO the TD and UMPS all want the games over ASAP so they can go home and count their money. This is just my 60 year old, 45 years of playing softball (200 games a year) opinion. IT IS ALL ABOUT THE MONEY.
I love the game, don't ever want to stop playing, but I have only a few years left so please let us enjoy it. We have to many associations having to many tournament with high cost we can't afford softball. I spent close to 8000.00 last year on tournaments for myself only. Ofcourse I am not good enough to play on a team that has 100% sponcership but I play never the less. Sorry I am sure I got off the subject so I will just shut up. Besides I have to get to bed early tonight I have a double header tomorrow. Enjoy the game, it ends all to soon.

jonny5, saw your post and yesterday I was looking for something and I saw an little golf size softball given to us by the Old Dawgs 55 back in 2003 in Mobile AL. I played with Office Products Warehouse 55. We played you for the championship. It's great to remember things like that.
Were you part of that team? If you were and was the 3rd baseman you will have no problem picking up on a Good 60 team. You were a great player.

Bashbro, your post are always great, I know you were just mocking jonny5, but you always keep the board from getting bored.

Sorry to say but "You bet your a$$'s they do".
also sorry myself is included in the bunch, if you don't have one, you are a very good man.
All Tournament Teams and MVP are a tough desision to make. An AH, catcher or 1B that has to have a runner everytime he gets on base should not ever be chosen, unless he has a 20 for 20 tournament. HR's only don't make a AT or MVP. As said before running, atitude, defence, base hits and of course HR's and RBI.
It has always been the hardest thing a manager has to do, even if he does it correctly. The best way, I think, is have the whole team do it with their egos put aside.
Remember at this age winning one of these tournaments is a great thrill. I know it is for me along with the friends I have made thru the years. And yes I have an EGO. Just ask me. :) :)

As my dear old DAD (POPS44) said, many, many places to play. Not enough time to play in all the places that are open for Senior play. Where will you be staying? POPS knows whers in Central Fl, I can handle North Fl and I sure POPS can direct you to any other spot you choice.

Just an EX in our Citrus County, M-T-W-T-F, 9am at Beverly Hills, M-W-T-F, 1pm in Crystal River area.

Within 30 miles, Lady Lake, Villages, Spring Hill have morning and afternoon leages that go 5 days a week.

Having only made about a dozen "Tournament Flights" while being a Senior, I have always used my Coast Guard Duffle Bag, always locked and NEVER had the lock cut or question about it. On the trip back home it is a great place for dirty, smelly uniforms. :)

If we have to start shagging our HR's next year I going up from Major to Major Plus, I am sure I can be a Major Pkus Ball Shagger.

Really what a team pays to play that team should never have to go get a HR ball or even a foul ball. If you notice if a team has players that are not playing in that game most of the time they just chase the ball anyway, or the other teams warming up will retrive tha ball, but when the Ump demands the team that hits the HR must retrive their own HR balls we get defensive.

I like SPA idea of giving each team balls and then the team is responsible for the balls. That way you can always put in a NEW ball in an appropriate time for a hitter. Chase the ball or just purchase another.

I know this is not the right thread but don't it always go back to the MONEY? To many assoistions, to many MAJOR Tournaments. Time limits, limit on runs scored per inning, no infield ball after the first inning.

HOT?? the weather was great, to bad we didn't play like the weather. Got back to Florida Monday night just in time for a 6:30 league game and almost died from the heat (humidity) But back to Phoenix, Umps were very good, yet very inconsistent. We played at Desert West, feilds were keep in very good shape, for day games, crew must have went home for night games because feilds were never draged again, anyway that didn't matter because you could not see the ball because of the lighting. Both teams had balls go by infeilders head that never saw the ball.
Our team the Suncoast Sunrays 60 Major finished 3 and 3, lost 2 games bottom of last inning and 1 game top of last inning and could not come back. It was all about who had the final ab, lots of offense and ZERO defense. All in all is was a fairly well run tournament. We were told upon arriving at the feilds to make sure to watch out for everyone and check your cars every once in a while. It even looked like a bad area to live in, I wonder why we have to play in areas like that?
Just another note, I got to watch some very good 40 ball with many, many ball flying well over 400 feet. Some "D" but with 40 year olds using the U2 their was not to much "D" at all.

What ever became the rule for hitting the 1 up HR in the bottom of the seventh inning to win a game. I know this wasa tossed around for a while but did it ever become clear id the home team could win the game with a HR if it was the fourth HR in a 3 HR's and 1 up tournament.
This happen this weekend in Phoneix and cost us a KEY game in the playoffs. No sour grapes, just asking. Besides I am already home and don't want to go back. :)

1) number of teams in your division...SPA/SSUSA usually has most teams for our 60 Major division

2) ball/bat combo (did you like it or not?)...same as above, played in ASA, decent tournament, less than good balls for the bats usede

3) location (was this a positive or a negative?)...same as #1, the seem to be spread across the country better

4) format...this seems to be the same most tournaments

5) scheduling (did they string your games out or were you able to play them in a short time frame each day?)...again this seem to be the same, they all want to spread out the games to keep you in town longer...ex: play 2 on Thursday, 1 on Friday, 2 on Sat and 2 or 3 on Sun, the last after noon on Sunday. That tournament was not played for the players, just for the money. Like most are now-a-days anyway.

6) would you go back next year? Why?...Yes, ofcourse, Don't have many years left to play and most associations now just have tournaments for the money.

Having only played in 30 or so tournaments in the last 5 years I think #1--SPA/SSUSA #2--NSA/USSSA
#3--ASA

Senior Softball-USA is dedicated to informing and uniting the Senior Softball Players of America and the World. Senior Softball-USA sanctions tournaments and championships, registers players, writes the rulebook, publishes Senior Softball-USA News, hosts International Softball Tours and promotes Senior Softball throughout the world. More than 1.5 million men and women over 40 play Senior Softball in the United States today.
»SSUSA History
»Privacy policy